honest to blog

I follow a fair number of fashion + lifestyle bloggers. I love to see carefully curated social content: you know, when the caption, outfit, photo, lighting all rolls into one beautiful piece of art that ALSO fits with the user’s social media image and aesthetic.

I try to achieve the same level of content, just without a professional photographer, brands sponsoring me, and without the same resources that other bloggers have. Challenging, yes, but I do my best.

Over labor day weekend I traveled with my family to Atlanta to visit my brother. While we were there I saw something that shocked and appalled me, and I thought I’d share it with you all. It reminded me why I like doing what I do, and why I might not be as polished or successful as other bloggers.

My family and I went to Shake Shack on a sunny Saturday afternoon, because cheese fries. I ordered a full meal–burger (no bun), cheese fries and a Diet Coke.

We were sitting outside eating when we noticed a couple behind us. The girl was skinny, beautiful, fashionable and well made-up. She and (what I assume was) her significant other were sitting across from one another with similar full meals in front of them.

He was eating, she wasn’t. She was taking pictures of her food with a professional camera. He looked a little annoyed, but I understand. We are all guilty of taking photos of delicious food before eating it–I do it. We all do it.

She held up her burger gracefully to take a photo with the Atlanta skyline. I assume the photo turned out great, it was the perfect day.

It began to occur to me that her food was probably getting cold. I thought, my mouth full of cheese fries, that she should eat it soon or it would get soggy.

After that, I started beating myself up. This girl was so gorgeous, like unbelievable. She had the perfect body, hair, makeup and outfit. How is it that she gets to eat junk food and still be perfect? I looked down at my empty container of fries with disgust.

Then something unexpected happened: She picked up her tray full of food, took one sip of her milkshake, and walked over to the trashcan and threw all of it away.

I think we are all guilty of comparing ourselves to the ideal standards we see on social media. We all know we’re not supposed to do it, and we all talk about not doing it, and then we do it. It’s subconsciously ingrained in our scrolls. It happens without us even knowing.

The worst part is, what we see on social media isn’t always genuine or real. Pictures are posed, moments are invented, truths are exaggerated, photos are edited. This is the reality of the business. I don’t expect everything I see to be genuine, but I guess I never suspected it would be that fake.

The idea that this girl posted all these pictures of her food, and then a picture of her honestly makes me sick to my stomach. Young women are going to look at this. They are going to think, “Why am I so fat?” They are going to think, “Why can she eat that food and still look like that?” When the truth is, she can’t. She is human. She is faking. She has the power to influence the next generation, and instead she is perpetuating unrealistic goals, ideals and images of being a woman. I mean all first-world self-esteem issues aside, the sheer food waste is nauseating.

Sometimes, I’m unsatisfied with my content. But the truth is, the reason I don’t have as much content and as picture perfect content is that I don’t make shit up. If you see me drinking a margarita, I’m drinking it. If you see me wearing an outfit, I’m wearing it. All day. If I post a picture of cheese fries, you better believe I’m eating those cheese fries.

I promise that I will always be honest & transparent in all I post on social media, and I so appreciate those who do the same.

I hope this gives you some sort of perspective and encouragement. You are enough. You are perfect. You are beautiful. Not to mention, think about how unhappy that girl is. She missed out on some damn good cheese fries.